Swansea Salmon
May 2015
Another day above ground, another Central Coast Fly Rodders outing. They seem to come around so quickly these days, must be getting old. I woke early, well before the dawn. Was it excitement or an itchy casting arm? Not sure, but I never seem to sleep before an outing. Could be the anticipation, the thought of failure, or that trophy fish; who knows, I’m sure we all experience it. The weather hadn't been too kind yesterday - southerly winds and heavy rain. Not what I would call ideal but fortunately the forecast for today was much better, plus we had a great response for the outing with 8-9 boats expected to turn up. Our expectations were high.
Dave and I had ventured up the week before for a pre-fish and had one of those days you just don’t forget. Today we arrived at the ramp early. It felt like ground hog day. 6:30 am start and a few guys were already there - obviously as keen as we were. We dropped the Hornet in, it slid off the trailer as if it were keener to get out there than we were. Cracking job on the trailer Lennie, and by the way, nice of you to take my boat for a run.
We planned to head out to Salts Bay and look for any bird activity which in turn would hopefully lead us to the fish, although I must say the weather conditions were average and we both felt that some sun on the water would be a bonus. As Dave poked the nose of the Hornet out through the other side of the Swansea Bridge and pushed the throttle to maximum, the Merc Four Stroke was humming along at a cracking pace, although the wind chill was something I could have done without.
As I looked towards the horizon I could see the sun trying its best to poke its head out over Moon Island. Rays of sunlight filtering through the islands weathered imperfections reminded me of a small child waking from his sleep, arms stretching, looking up out of his bed wondering what the day might bring.
Bird Island is on the southern side of Swansea Bar. It is a magnet for many species of sea birds that jostle for protection between the cracks and crevices of the island that has been weathered and beaten from thousands of years of constant impact from the diverse weather conditions and heavy seas that it experiences. With this island also comes protection for many types of bait fish, which in turn attract many types of predators - various sea birds plus our interest, Salmon, Tailor, Kings and Tuna. The food chain continues on, sharks, dolphins and of course as many club members will testify, the occasional hungry seal. Our target fish was the Australian Salmon, a fantastic Australian sportfish that is highly underrated. Pound for pound you will go a long way to find a better fighting fish that is so accessible.
We ventured out to the front of Salts Bay. The swell was up and it didn’t look too inviting off Bird Island - a run out tide, a reasonable swell and the punt style hull of the Hornet not ideal in these conditions. Fresh cloud cover had defused any of the suns warming rays so we decided to stay inside as we were both fairly confident the fish would start to feed shortly. I threaded the intermediate through the guides of one of Dave’s nine weights. Can't talk highly enough about these rods, we have put them through Hell and they are still going strong. Do yourself a favour check them out on the Hooked On Flies website. I tied up a 5ft leader of 40 lb flurocarbon, 2½ft of 20 lb flurocarbon & 2½ft of 12 lb flurocarbon tippet. Owies loop knot to one of Dave’s Salmon Candies and I was ready to go.
We motored up and down the channel searching but were a little surprised that there was no surface activity inside the bay. It was only early so we decided to have a brew and gather our thoughts while waiting for the tide to pick up. There were plenty of boats searching but no one seemed to be hooking up and we agreed that the fish were probably down deep, searching, waiting for some baitfish to ambush. Dave decided to put a Chartreuse and White Clouser on to get to the bottom and it worked a treat. Within minutes Dave was on, flyline screeching as it was wrenched through the guides of the nine weight. I dropped a cast to the right of where Dave had hooked up, I paused then one long strip and flyline was ripped from my fingers. Finally relief, we were both hooked up and they were both solid fish, nothing could wipe the smiles off our faces. We had forgotten about the cold as both fish were landed. We took some quick photos and off they shot like green missiles into the deeper water.
After a few more casts we both hooked fish but failed to stay connected, so we headed back up towards the bridge. We noticed some nervous water off the edge of the channel, then suddenly a school of baitfish exploded, they were being seriously harassed by some huge Salmon, not a great life being a baitfish. Dave laid out a nice cast just ahead of them and only managed a few strips then, as Bunny would say, #### BINGO!, his 9 weight buckled. Dave groaned, I’m sure it was excitement but it sounded like he was in pain. Not being one to stand back and watch and never being much of a spectator I laid out a cast, I waited for the intermediate to sink, one strip, and I was on. After a tough battle we landed both fish, Dave’s was a cracking fish, well over the 4kg mark, I think it gave the magic 10lb mark a nudge. As we fought the fish we noticed the tidal flow had increased dramatically which was due to the heavily scoured bottom and the funnelling effect of the tide as the lake narrows towards the bridge. This in turn creates pressure waves, which I imagine would have any small bait fish in trouble. I have to say you could never tire of this type of fishing - big fish in shallow water, huge tidal flow, it certainly tests you.
We commented on how the fish seemed to be much more acrobatic when feeding inside the lake and we guessed it has to do with the fact it is very shallow in certain areas and the only way to go is up. You have to love seeing a big salmon in the air with one of Dave’s Salmon Candies hanging out of its mouth.
Suddenly the salmon erupted again, smashing schools of bait fish on the surface a few hundred meters from the boat. Dave set the Minn Kota to overdrive and we were on the fish in a flash. They were feeding on the edge of the channel pushing the baitfish towards the shallows and then ambushing them as they were sucked back out to the edge of the colour change by the tidal current. We cast simultaneously and another double hook up. Could this be any better? They say "any day above ground is a good day", but really, does it get any better? With all the commotion, boats arrived from everywhere and several of the guys in the club were hooked up. There was a plethora of boats connected to airborne salmon doing their best to dislodge hooks, flies, lures and whatever else they managed to have hanging from their mouths. Unfortunately several boats decided it was a good idea to motor right through the middle of school which spooked the fish and they went down yet again, annoying to say the least, so we decided to head back out towards the mouth of the lake.
We noticed Kenny was into a nice fish, looked like he had it under control, pretty sure he might have caught a few in his day. Another nice Salmon was boated. We commented that the fish would occasionally free jump, they were quite patchy now, so the plan was to cast close to where the fish had breached. We were only in few metres of water so we only needed to let the fly sink for a few seconds, then we would strip the fly in almost to the boat, pausing occasionally to let the fly sink. A quicker strip once the retrieve got closer to the boat seemed to be their undoing, but once the fish realised they were hooked most the line on the deck disappeared and we were battling to control another angry Australian Salmon. I have to say a Nine weight is the ideal weapon for these fish as they are dogged fighters and you need to put some hurt on them or you will be hooked up too long, thus limiting your chances of more fish.
As we continued to search, we had noticed plenty of the boys from the club hooked up. Col was into a nice fish, smiles were flowing as another salmon made it to the boat and was quickly released. Col had also managed a nice trevally earlier, a welcome bonus when things were slow. We then decided to follow the fish, as the bait schools were small and becoming very patchy. This technique proved fruitful as we managed to pick up a few more good fish. Craig and Mal were landing some really nice fish and several other club members were doing the same. Stickerman’s boat was sussing out a couple of bust ups as we motored past and Bunney’s new boat was christened in more ways than one, not sure what Muz was up to but both were smiling. Is that what a Half Cabin is for?
The bite seemed to die down as the tide slowed. Dave spotted a huge school of Salmon mooching in the shallows, in less than 2 metres of water. Nirvana maybe, but no, it didn’t matter what flies we threw at them they were just not interested. They were waiting for the tide and it appeared that the old adage "No Run No Fun" was proving correct. We continued to search but the fish were tough. We managed to hook a few more fish, some were boated and some managed to throw the flies, but getting the "Eat" was still very cool.
The morning had gone so quickly and it was time to head back to the Ramp. As we motored up the channel I was sad the day was ending. We both commented how healthy the lake was, the clarity of the water failed to hide the expansive sand flats and weed beds that, in time will encourage us to come back again and try our luck on a different species. The club had planned its usual BBQ for 12.30pm and as we retrieved the boat several club members turned up. There was plenty of laughter and banter going on, so it was a sign everyone had a good time. Unfortunately we were unable to stay for the BBQ but I’m sure there were some great stories discussed over some of Macs famous sausage sandwiches. Wish we were able to stay, but family committments ruled that out. Anyway, let’s hope the next outing continues in the same vane, seems like everyone had a crackin' day.
So get out there and fish hard, 'cause you are a long time dead.
